Nida Huq is the main female protagonist of Demon 79. She was portrayed by Anjana Vasan.
History[]
Nida was working at department store Possetts in the show department alongside the racist Vicky, who forced Nida to cut her lunch break short in order to tend to Keith Holligan, who'd recently been acquitted for killing his wife. Nida tended to Keith, but Keith didn't have enough money to buy the shoes he picked out, so she set them aside for him. When he flirted with her, she fantasized about killing him before just putting them aside.
As Nida was leaving work, she watched Michael Smart, a political candidate, give an anti-immigrant speech on the street, which drew a crowd. The next morning, Nida found the symbol for the National Front, an anti-immigrant party, spray painted on her door.
At work that day, Mr Duncan informed her that Vicky had complained about the smell of her lunch, so Nida agreed to start bringing sandwiches instead. For that day, he said she could eat in the basement. In the basement, Nida looked around and cut her finger on a drawer. In the drawer was a talisman, which Nida took with her when she left.
That night, Nida was watching television when Gaap, a demon, appeared to her in his demon form, saying she had used her blood to anoint the talisman. He explained that she had to carry out three human sacrifices over three days to prevent the world from ending. He could help her if she accepted it. When he saw that she was scared by his appearance, he changed himself to look like Bobby Farrell, as he knew that would be appealing to her. He showed her what the world would look like if she didn't complete the task. Horrified, Nida tried to leave to get away from him. She came across Tim Simons, who was out walking his dog. Gaap told Nida that Tim was a perfect target as there were no witnesses. Plus Tim was molesting his eight year old daughter, which would lead to her suicide. This sufficiently rallied Nida, who took a brick and hit Tim in the head, killing him.
Nida went back home and vomited, while Gaap assured her she'd get used to it and it would get easier. He also tried to get her to rally because she had two more sacrifices to make. Nida told Gaap she felt crazy, like they'd said her mother was. He told her she wasn't, but confessed that hers was his first assignment, so he didn't know how everything worked. Nida tried to call the police to confess, but Gaap told her she would save billions of lives by sacrificing just three. He got her not to confess and told her just to act normal to avoid getting caught.
Gaap went to work with Nida and told her that Vicky would make a good target. To make it easier, he said she was stealing from the cash register. Next, he pointed out an older woman who was close to her natural death anyway. When Rod showed up to flirt with Vicky, he said that Rod would end up beating his wife. Nida rejected all of these and went home without completing her second kill. Gaap reminded her of what would happen if she didn't complete her sacrifices, so she armed herself with a hammer. She decided she needed some alcohol, but didn't own any, so they went to a pub. Gaap continued pointing out potential targets, telling Nida all their sins. Finally, she settled on Keith Holligan. She followed him out of the bar and then pretended to want to have sex with him to get him to take her back to his place.
With just four minutes left, Nida killed Keith with the hammer. However, as she went to leave, Keith's brother, Chris, came home and Gaap said she couldn't leave any witnesses. He tried to fight her off, but she was able to stab him with a knife he'd grabbed to defend himself. Nida and Gaap left just as the clock struck midnight.
Back at Nida's, Gaap consoled Nida, who was upset at killing Chris, who had done nothing wrong, by telling her that she was done now as she'd made three sacrifices. They were both surprised that the talisman still only registered two. Gaap checked in and learned that Keith didn't count because he was a killer himself. So it was lucky that Chris had come home because otherwise, she would have missed it. Unfortunately, this left her with one more sacrifice to make. Nida became angry with Gaap because he didn't have to do anything. He just had to watch while she did the dirty work. He told her that if he failed his initiation, he would be cast out to spend eternity in nothingness.
Nida went back to work the next day and when Laura Simons, Tim's daughter, came in, Gaap told Nida that Laura wasn't in mourning. Nida had spared her five more years of abuse. He told her of what Laura would become thanks to Nida. Gaap continued to suggest potential targets, but Nida decided to kill anti-immigrant politician Michael Smart. Gaap knew his bosses wouldn't like that, as Michael Smart would go on to be responsible for many juicy deaths, but he wasn't yet, so he still technically qualified. Gaap tried and failed to talk Nida out of it.
Nida left work and went home, where she made a plan to follow Michael Smart and use her car to run him off the road. However, she was interrupted by Len Fisher, who was investigating Keith and Tim's deaths. She told Len about being at the pub and explained that it was her mother's birthday and she'd been struggling. When Len left, Gaap told her that he didn't believe Nida. Nida left in her car to go find Michael and carry out her plan. Even though Len follow her, Nida remained firm in her plan and told Gaap to leave, which he did. Nida continued to follow Michael until they were in an isolated location. She ran him off the road with her car and then got her hammer to finish the job when he survived the crash. However, Len showed up and convinced her not to do it.
Nida was arrested and taken back to the station, where Len and Suzie questioned her. She told them all about Gaap and the sacrifices she had to make to save the whole world, but they didn't believe her. Nida watched in horror as the clock ticked toward midnight. With five seconds left, she closed her eyes to brace herself. When she opened then, midnight had passed and there were no signs of destruction. However, soon after, bombs started to fall from the sky, causing fires that engulfed everything. Gaap reappeared and Nida told him she had failed to make her third sacrifice. Gaap said he knew and was being cast out to eternal oblivion, but he'd used the time they were apart to check the fine print and there was no rule saying he couldn't bring a human companion, so Nida decided to go with him and they left together as the world ended behind him.
Relationships[]
Gaap[]
She got close with Gaap while he coached her through her human sacrifices. When he was banished to eternal damnation, he asked her to go along and she accepted.
Career[]
She worked in shoes at Possetts.
Notes and Trivia[]
- Nida is an Arabic name meaning 'call' or 'proclaim'.
- Huq is an Arabic surname meaning 'truth', it is a variation of Haqq and is mostly used in Bangladesh. It is also the surname of Konnie Huq, who co-wrote Fifteen Million Merits and is married to show creator Charlie Brooker.
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
